Vertical refiner



Nov. 22, 1966 L. A. MOORE ETAL VERTICAL REFINER 5 Sheets-Sheet 1' FiledJan. 31, 1964 INVENTORS LAWRENCE A. MOORE BY LOYAL H.HESS i Azw4ATTORNEYS Nov. 22, 1966 L. A. MOORE ETAL. 3,286,938

VERTICAL REFINER Filed Jan. 31, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN LET INVENTORSLAWRENCE A. MOORE LOYAL m-uass ATTO RN EYS Nov. 22,1966 1.. A. MOOREETAL 3,286,938

VERTICAL REFINER Filed Jan. 31, 1964 :3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORSLAWRENCE A.MOORE LOYAL H. HESS ATT RNEYS United States Patent 3,286,938VERTICAL REFINER Lawrence A. Moore and Loyal H. Hess, Beloit, Wis.,assignors to Beloit Corporation, a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Jan.31, 1964, Ser. No. 341,644 Claims. (Cl. 241-162) The present inventionrelates to improvements in paper stock refiners.

More particularly, the invention contemplates providing a vertical paperstock refiner supported in a vertical housing means with an upperrefining chamber therein closed by a cap with the chamber containing anupper stator supported on the cap and having a lower refining face, alower stator within the chamber having an upper refining face, upper andlower rotors in the chamber having upper and lower refining faces andrespectively supported on an inner shaft and an outer coaxial tubularshaft with said shafts being relatively axially adjustable to adjust theaxial positioning of the rotors for controlling the refining spaces.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved rotaryrefiner which requires a minimum of installation space and permitsservicing such as removal of the refining plates with replacement of newplates without disassembly of the entire mechanism and with a minim-umof effort and space requirement.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved refiner Withfeatures of control of the refining operation by adjustment of theposition of the refining plates.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improvedvertical refiner wherein means are provided for adjustment of therefining spaces and the refined stock passes through a series ofrefining spaces which automatically adjust themselves to the conditionof the stock, being balanced by the hydraulic forces of the stock in therefining spaces.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved refinerconstruction and means for supporting refiner plates for operation, andfor servicing.

Other objects, advantages and features will become more apparent withthe teaching of the principles of the present invention in connectionwith the disclosure of the preferred embodiments thereof in thespecification, claims and drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical sectional view of a refiner constructed andoperating in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary detailed view of the lower end of the refinedillustrating another form of support for the rotors;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the refiner of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken through the axisof a rotor of modified construction;

and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken through the axisof a refiner showing another form.

As shown on the drawings:

FIGURES 1 and 3 show a refiner driven by a motor 10 within a housing 11having an upper housing part 12 with a .refiner chamber 13 therein. Therefiner chamber 13 has a large upwardly facing opening closed by a capor cover 14.

Within the refiner chamber and suported from. the cover 14 is an upperrefiner plate or stator 15. Also within the chamber 13 is a lowerrefiner plate or stator 16. The stators 15 and 16 respectively havedownwardly and upwardly facing refining faces which are provided withdesired refining teeth or blades.

3,286,938 Patented Nov. 22, 1966 ice Also within the chamber, andbetween the stators 15 and 16 are upper and lower plates or refinerrotors 17 and 18. These respectively have upwardly and downwardly facingrefining faces to coact with .the faces of the stators.

The rotors are interlocked for corotation but can be adjusted relativeto each other in an axial direction and for this purpose have slidingpins 19 extending into openings in the rotors. The space between therotors may be open for a flexible seal may be provided at the peripheraledge thereof. Between the stators and rotors are refining spaces 25 and26 and these spaces are controlled by the spacing between the rotors 17and 18.

Stock flows into the refiner through an inlet passage 20 leading to anannular inlet chamber 24 beneath the rotor. The stock then flowsradially outwardly through the refiner space 26 into the periphery ofthe chamber 13 and then radially inwardly through the refiner space 25to an outlet chamber 22 in the cover 14. A passage 23, FIGURE 3, leadsradially outwardly to a discharge outlet 24.

With this arrangement the inlet passage 20 and outlet passage 23 arecarried within the upper housing part 12 and need not be disassembledfor replacement of the refiner plates. When replacement is required thecover 14 is easily removed, and this is held on by suitable means suchas cap screws, not shown, whichare on the flanged edge of the cover 14.The upper refiner plate is suitably attached to the cover and will thusbe lifted off when the cover is removed, and the rotor plates 17 and 18are removed by respectively removing a nut 28 from the top of the shaft27 and .a nut 30 from the top of the shaft 29. The lower stator issecured in the housing part 12 at the base of the chamber 13 and alsocan easily be removed through the opening at the top of the chamber 13.

The shaft 27 for supporting the upper stator 17 extends coaxiallydownwardly within the outer tubular shaft 29 for the lower stator 18. Asupporting slide bearing 30a supports the upper end of the shaft 27within the tubular shaft 29.

Drivingly secured to the outer tubular shaft is a rotor 10a of the motor10. The shafts adjust up and down relative to each other, and the outershaft adjusts up and down relative to the housing 11 and passes througha seal 31 at its upper end which provides a seal for the inlet chamber24. Below the inlet chamber attached to the shaft 29 is a slinger ring32 throwing liquid outwardly and the liquid can leak out through smallinlet openings 3211 on the housing part 12 and housing 11.

The outer shaft 29 has an upper support bearing 33 supported in a collar34 mounted on a support Wall 34a in the housing 11. A lower bearing 35for the outer shaft 29 is vertically slidably mounted in a supportcollar 36 carried on a wall 37 of the housing 11 (the wall has separatedopenings around the collar).

The lower end of the outer shaft 29 has a shaft extension 39 which ismounted so as to 'be non-rotatable such as by being keyed to the outershell of the bearing 35. The inner shaft 27 has a bearing 40 at itslower end so as to permit its rotation with the rotors, and has a lowernonrotatable' extension 41 which may be made nonrotatable such as bybeing keyed to the outer shaft extension 39.

The lower shaft extensions 38 and 39 are threaded and are engaged by atubular nut 41. Various threading arrangements may be employed so thatwhen the tubular nut 41 is rotated the spacing between the rotors 17 and18 is changed. For example, the extension 38 may be a right-hand threadand the extension 39 a left-hand thread so that rotation of the nut 41in one direction will bring the rotors 17 and 18 together, and rotationof the nut in the other direction will spread the rotors 17 and 'inlet64 leads into the refining chamber.

18. Also the extensions 38 and 39 may be threaded in the same directionbut have differential threads with different leads so that with rotationof the nut 41 the inner shaft 27 will have movement relative to theouter shaft 29, thus changing the spacing between the plates 17 and 18.This of course will require readjustment of. the elevation of the unitssupporting the rotors 17 and 18.

To support the rotors and their shaft, and the motor rotor a, threadedrods 43 and 44 extend downwardly from the collar 36 to support a housing42 for a worm gearing which drives the nut 41 in rotation. This wormgearing is suitably driven by a drive shown schematically at 43a, and43a may be a bracket for supporting a reversible rotor adjustment drivemotor.

The housing 42 is clamped between upper nuts 45 and 46 on the rods 43and 44, and lower nuts 47 and 48. The position of the lower nuts 47 and48 will of course determine the elevation of the refiner rotor plates 17and 18 and the plates generally will be centered with respect to thestators and 16. If the shaft extensions 38. and 39 are threaded inopposite directions, an original setting may be obtained for the housing42 which centers the plates, and adjustment thereafter will move theplates equal distances up and down and maintain the refining spaces 25and 26 the same.

In some instances, it is desirable to provide a floating support for therotors 17 and 18. This permits the spaces 25 and 26 to automaticallyadjust themselves to the stock requirements. In other words, the spacingbetween the rotors 17 and 18 is first set, and then during operation therefining spaces 25 and 26 will remain substantially equal by the rotorsfloating between the stators 15 and 16. For this purpose the rotors,their shafts 27 and 29, and the motor rotor 10a are supported byapplying a vertical upward force equal to the weight of these members.This arrangement is shownin FIGURE 2.

In FIGURE 2, coil support springs 49 and 50 are mounted on the rods 43and 44 beneath the worm drive housing. The nuts 51 and 52 are turned upto a position where the rotors 17 and 18 are substantially centeredbetween the stators 15 and 16. Upper stop nuts 53 and 54 may be providedto limit the upward travel of the unit to prevent physical interferencebetween the surfaces of the upper stator 15 and the upper rotor 17.Similarly, lower stop nuts 55 and 56 may be provided to prevent the unitfrom moving downwardly so far that there is interference between thesurfaces of the lower stator 16 and the lower rotor 18. These spacingsof course will be set for maximum spacing of the rotors 17 and 18. Thestop nuts 53, 54, 55 and 56 may be omitted and the springs 49 and 50 setto centrally position the rotors, and the rotors will remainoperationally centered by opposing hydraulic forces of the stock on therotor plates.

FIGURE 4 shows an arrangement wherein only two refiner plates are used.In the arrangement of FIGURE 4 a housing 57 has a refining chamber 58therein. A11 The refining chamber is closed at its upper end by a cover59 which supports an upper stator plate '60. A rotor plate 61.

is supported on a shaft 62 passing down through a seal 63. Stock is fedthrough an inlet 64 into the chamber.

58 to pass radially through a refining space 66 between the plates andto flow outwardly through a discharge passage 65. In the single discrotor of FIGURE 4 .a screw jack similar to the arrangement of FIGURE 1may be employed which merely raises or lowers the shaft 62 to determinethe refining space 66. For obtaining uniform refining the horse powerinput of the drive motor may be measured and this will be an indicationof refining operation with uniform stock. If the horse power drops thegap 66 it is Wearing, it must be reduced. The setting of the gap mayalso be made as a function of stock characteristic. In operation of thearrangement of FIG- URES l and 2, stock is fed into the inlet and passesinto the annular chamber 24 to flow radially outwardly 4 through therefining space 26 into the periphery of the chamber 13. The stock thenflows radially inwardly through the-refining space 25 and out throughthe outlet passage 22. The refining spaces are controlled by axiallyrelatively shifting the shafts 27 and 29 which respectively support theupper rotor plate 17 and the lower rotor plate 18. The shafts may berigidly supported in their adjusted position by the mechanism of FIGURE1, or yieldably supported by the mechanism of FIGURE 2.

In the arrangement of FIGURE .5, 'a rotary refiner is provided within ahousing 70 which defines a refining chamber 73 therein having an inlet71 and an outlet 72. Stock enters the inlet 71 through a conduit,not,shown, and after being subjected to refining action flows outthrough the outlet 72.

Within the refiner chamber 73 is an upper refiner plate or stator 75 anda facing upper rotary refiner plate or rotor 76. The plates 75 and 76define an upper refining space 74 between them'.

Also within the chamber 73 ,is a lower stationary refining plate orstator 78 and a facing rotary refining plate. or rotor 77. The plates 77and 78 define a lower refining.

space 74a between them. As the stock enters the inlet:71

it passes through the annular lower refining space 74a to the outerperipheral edge of the chamber 73 and then through the upper refiningspace 74 passing inwardly and out through the outlet 72. The plates haverefining spaces with teeth or blades as will be appreciated by thoseversed in the art. The rotors 76 and 77 are driven in rotation by theirsupporting shafts, and may be driven by a motor such as in thearrangement of FIGURE 1, or may be driven by a motor secured to an uppershaft 79 secured to the upper rotor 76. p

The lower rotor is supported on a tubular shaft 81 which extendsdownwardly from the rotor and is supported in bearings 82 and 84. Thebearings 82 and 84 are slidable in an outer tubular support 87 so as topermit vertical movement of the rotor 77 to thereby change the width ofthe refining space 74a. A seal 91 is at the upper end of the shaft 81adjacent the inlet 71. The upper rotor 76 is supported on a shaftcoaxial bag is positioned between the upper and lower rotors 76 and 77.The bag 88 may be annular in shape, or may consist of a plurality ofindividual circular. bags or air springs suitably secured in placebetween the rotors 76 and 77. The bag or air spring 88 is provided witha pressure control line 89 which connects to the bag 88 and. leads downthrough a central bore in the shaft 80 to a pressure supply source. Bycontrolling the pressure in the line 89 the spreading force on therotors 76 and 77 is controlled. Thus as the spreading force is increasedor decreased, the rotors 76 and 77 will tend to remain centrally locatedbetween the plates 75 and 78 .due to the reaction force of the stockpassing through the refining spaces 74 and 74a. If the refiner ispositioned so that the shafts 79, 80 and 81 are vertical then asuitablebalancing means as indicated schematically by the arrowed line90 is provided to apply a balancing force so that the rotors 76 and 77are substantially weightless in the chamber 73 and will automaticallymaintaintheir centered position.

Thus, it will be seen that we have provided animproved vertical refinermeeting the objectives and advantages above set forth. The unit may takevarious forms within the principles of the invention requiring a minimumamount ofspace and the refiner plates are quickly and easily changed bysimple removal of the cover plate.

The drawings and specification present a detailed disclosure of thepreferred embodiments of the invention, and it is to be understood thatthe invention is not limited to the specific forms disclosed, but coversall modifications, changes and alternative constructions and methodsfalling within the scope of the principles taught by the invention.

We claim as our invention:

1. A paper'stock refiner comprising in combination,

an upper stator having a lower refining surface,

a lower stator having an upper refining surface,

upper and lower rotors between said stators respectively having upperand lower refining surfaces facing the surfaces of the stators anddefining refining spaces therebetween,

means rotatably supporting said rotors in a predetermined locationbetween said stators,

means rigidly supporting said stators,

an outer tubular shaft supporting said lower rotor,

an inner shaft coaxial with the outer shaft supporting the upper rotor,

means driving said shaft,

extensions of the lower ends of said shafts,

threads at the lower ends of said shaft extensions having differences inthread lead,

and a nut threadably engaging the threads of said shaft extensions forcontrollably adjusting the relative positions of said shafts withrotation of the nut relative to the shaft extensions.

2. A paper stock refiner comprising in combination,

an upper stator having a. lower refining surface,

a lower stator having an upper refining surface,

upper and lower rotors between said stators respectively having upperand lower refining surfaces facing the surfaces of the stators anddefining refining spaces therebetween,

shaft means supporting said rotors,

means relatively axially adjusting the position of the rotors relativeto each other,

a motor having a rotor attached to said shaft means,

and means yieldably applying a force when the rotors are equidistantbetween the stators substantially equivalent to the weight of the shaftmeans, plus refiner rotors and motor rotor members in an axial directionto said members so that the refiner rotors will be floatingly positionedmidway between said stators.

3. A paper stock refiner comprising in combination,

an upper stator having a lower refining surface,

a lower stator having an upper refining surface,

upper and lower rotors between said stators closely adjacent each otherrespectively having upper and lower refining surfaces facing thesurfaces of the stators and defining refining spaces therebetween,

an outer tubular shaft supporting said lower rotor and extendingdownwardly away from the rotor,

an inner shaft coaxial within said outer shaft and extending downwardlyaway from said rotors,

a motor having a motor rotor drivingly connected to said shafts,

a housing means surrounding said motor and having an upper chamber withan upper opening larger than the rotors and stators for removal thereof,

outlet and inlet passages in the housing means for feeding stock to therefining spaces,

and a cover removably secured over said opening for the removal of therotor and stator without disassembly of the housing means.

4. A paper stock refiner comprising in combination,

an upper stator having a lower refining surface,

a lower stator having an upper refining surface,

upper and lower rotors between said stators respectively having upperand lower refining surfaces facing the surfaces of the stators anddefining refining spaces therebetween,

rotational locking pins extending between said rotors permittingrelative axial movement and locking the rotorsin rotation,

an outer tubular shaft supporting the lower rotor,

an inner shaft coaxial with the outer shaft supporting the upper rotor,

a motor having a rotor drivingly connected to the outer shaft,

a motor housing having an upper portion defining a refining chamberopening upwardly and being at least as large as said rotors and stators,

a cap removably secured to the housing closing said refining chamber andsupporting said upper stator,

an upper bearing supporting the motor rotor supported in said housingand vertically movable therein,

a lower bearing supporting the motor rotor and vertically movabletherein,

a bearing supporting said inner shaft,

a bearing supporting said outer shaft,

a threaded inner shaft extension,

a threaded outer shaft extension,

a support nut threaded to said shaft extensions and rotatable forrelatively axially moving said shafts for determining the spacing ofsaid rotors,

and means mounted on the housing supporting the weight of the shafts andmotor rotor with the shafts supporting the upper and lower rotors.

5. A paper stock refiner comprising in combination,

an upper stator having a lower refining surface,

a lower stator having an upper refining surface,

upper and lower rotors closely adjacent each other and being locatedbetween said stators respectively having upper and lower refiningsurfaces facing the surfaces of the stators and defining spacestherebetween,

a first tubular shaft supporting the lower rotor and extendingdownwardly away from the lower rotor,

a second shaft supporting the upper rotor and extending downwardlywithin the tubular shaft and away from said rotors,

means driving said shafts,

and means positioned below both of said rotors connected to said shaftsfor relatively axially adjusting the position of said shafts forcontrolling said refining spaces.

References Clted by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,762,122 6/1930Marsh 241-259 2,838,247 6/ 1958 Hauser 24l259 X 3,161,359 12/1964Dalzell 241l62 X FOREIGN PATENTS 344,446 11/ 1921 Germany.

ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner. D. G. KELLY, Assistant Examiner.

1. A PAPER STOCK REFINER COMPRISING IN COMBINATION, AN UPPER STATORHAVING A LOWER REFINING SURFACE A LOWER STATOR HAVING AN UPPER REFININGSURFACE, UPPER AND LOWER ROTORS BETWEEN SAID STATORS RESPECTIVELY HAVINGUPPER AND LOWER REFINING SURFACES FACING THE SURFACES OF THE STATORS ANDDEFINING REFINING SPACES THEREBETWEEN, MEANS ROTATABLY SUPPORTING SAIDROTORS IN A PREDETERMINED LOCATION BETWEEN SAID STATORS, MEANS RIGIDLYSUPPORTING SAID STATORS, AN OUTER TUBULAR SHAFT SUPPORTING SAID LOWERROTOR, AN INNER SHAFT COAXIAL WITH THE OUTER SHAFT SUPPORTING THE UPPERROTOR, MEANS DRIVING SAID SHAFT, EXTENSIONS OF THE LOWER ENDS OF SAIDSHAFTS, THREADS AT THE LOWER ENDS OF SAID SHAFT EXTENSIONS HAVINGDIFFERENCES IN THREAD LEAD, AND A NUT THREADABLY ENGAGING THE THREADS OFSAID SHAFT EXTENSIONS FOR CONTROLLABLY ADJUSTING THE RELATIVE POSITIONSOF SAID SHAFTS WITH ROTATION OF THE NUT RELATIVE TO THE SHAFTEXTENSIONS.